The Appalachian
TheAppalachianOnline.com
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Vol. 86 No. 11
Solar Homestead team takes 12th place in Washington, D.C.
Homelessness up close: A weekend in Boone’s Hospitality House by BRANDI CROSMER Senior News Reporter
Editor’s Note: The following piece is a personal account written by a reporter undercover at a homeless shelter in Boone.
Stefano Paltera | U.S. Department of Energy
Dave Lee, Appalachian alumnus and Solar Homestead communications coordinator, accepts the Solar Decathlon People’s Choice Award. Appalachian received the award at the Victory Reception in Washington, D.C. The 2011 Solar Decathlon was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
by MIKE RUTLEDGE Intern News Reporter
A
ppalachian State University’s Solar Homestead project proved itself an international contender for most sustainable and aesthetically appealing home last weekend. The Solar Homestead team won 12th place in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition Sunday in Washington, D.C. The competition judges sustainable homes constructed by teams from all over the world. Appalachian also won first place in the People’s Choice Award, second place in the communications contest and third in the architecture contest. Participants in the project still thought the Solar Homestead was underrated. “The overall standings do not represent the true performance of our house,” said Dave Lee, Appalachian alumnus and communications
coordinator for the Solar Homestead. resources to compete against our peers “Net energy had huge weight, and internationally.” the contests we did exceptional on The team’s success in the Solar counted very little.” Decathlon also sparked excitement Lee said he for the future of overheard large Appalachian’s Solar numbers of people program. “Many of the teams Homestead discussing the “The entry livability and said that they would was remarkably practicality of the competitive. The live in our house.” house as they toured People’s Choice it. Award showed Dave Lee While many of the this,” Appalachian Communications Coordinator, houses were abstract Physics Professor The Solar Homestead concept homes, Lee Carla Ramsdell said. said “many of the “We have proved to teams said that they ourselves and others would live in our house.” that this is an area we can be highly “When you look at the standings, competitive in.” you realize how close all the Huffman said the university should scores were. I think we were very “keep at it.” competitive, especially since we don’t “We should apply to the 2013 have architecture and engineering competition,” he said. “As far as programs,” said John Huffman, a resources, I think the college as a senior appropriate technology major whole has been very supportive of this who worked on the project. “It was program, especially with giving us a good to see Appalachian State use our place to work.”
Hospitality House, Social Services combat above-average poverty levels in Watauga by BRANDI CROSMER Senior News Reporter
A huge portion of Watauga County’s population was living below the poverty level in 2009 – 21.2 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This widely surpasses the North Carolina average of 16.2 percent. In order to help mitigate high poverty levels, Watauga County offers housing through Hospitality House and food stamps, childcare, medical assistance and fuel assistance through Watauga County Social Services. On any given night, up to 1,300 people are homeless in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey Adam Jennings | The Appalachian counties, according to Todd Carter, director of Brandon, a young resident of Boone’s Hospitality House, gives development for the Hospitality House. “The stigma of poverty is that as soon as a thumbs-up in the dinning area. There are currently 14 children someone mentions homelessness, 50 percent staying at the shelter. of people stop listening,” Carter said. Hospitality House offers emergency, transitional, Atkinson, director of Watauga County Social Services. supportive and permanent housing depending on a “We’re seeing people that we wouldn’t normally have seen person’s circumstances. Its new site on Brook Hollow in this situation because of the economy.” Road can accommodate 70 people, up from a limit of 24 Information from Food and Nutritional Services shows in its old King Street site. that in August 2010, there were 1,624 cases of people The shelter had a 50 percent success rate in transition using Electronic Balance Transfer (EBT) cards, but in last year, according to Tina Krause, director of services at August 2011, there were 1,959 cases. the Hospitality House. Social Services will provide between $850,000 and “Nobody wants to be in this position. It’s not a choice,” $900,000 worth of childcare this year for parents who Krause said. need to work, Atkinson said. Residents at the Hospitality House generally work “Childcare is expensive and the jobs up here are hard to closely with Social Services to receive other benefits get and low-paying, so at some point you may not make provided for low-income individuals and families. enough money to make it worthwhile to work, because “There are more people applying for these services childcare costs more than you actually bring home,” he because there are more people in poverty,” said Jim said.
Student upset as Reich College of Education puts international student teaching on hold by ANNE BUIE Senior News Reporter
Until recently, senior elementary education major Katherine Bozorth planned to teach in Costa Rica during the spring semester, as part of the international student teaching program offered by the Reich College of Education. Bozorth submitted her application Sept. 15. On Sept. 23, she received an email stating that the program wouldn’t be offered in the spring due to “circumstances beyond our control.” Bozorth said she is upset that the program won’t be offered. “I kind of have developed a little bit of resentment toward our program,”
she said. “It just doesn’t seem like they are thinking of us first. We are here to learn to be the best and to do the best that we can do, and without these extra opportunities, we can’t really do that.” Robin Groce, assistant dean of field experience in the College of Education, helped make the decision to shelve the program for the spring 2012 semester. “It’s just on hold for one semester because of the new administration and the need to assess the program and to restructure, to work with the Office of International Studies so that we understand their role more clearly so that we can provide the best opportunity for our students,” Groce said.
Groce said no one was confirmed to teach internationally for the spring 2012 semester. Students submitted applications, but there were no confirmed applications to revoke. “No one has been told that they were going and then we went back and said, ‘Well, now you’re not.’ All that’s happened is some students submitted some applications for the spring,” she said. Bozorth said international student teaching is “really important” and shelving the program shows “a lack of dedication to the students.” “It’s really hurting Appalachian’s relations with other countries,” Bozorth said. “This is something we’ve been doing with other countries for years, and this year no one’s going.”
For two days last week, I stayed at the emergency shelter at Boone’s Hospitality House, posing as a homeless person in order to see what it’s like to be impoverished. After growing up relatively privileged, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I got there Thursday night and went through the full check-in process. None of the staff or residents knew I wasn’t actually homeless. While I was checking in, I was asked to describe the details of my life that led up to my becoming homeless. It was an extremely humbling experience. Before getting my room key, I had to blow into a Breathalyzer in front of all the other residents to prove I hadn’t consumed any alcohol. Hospitality House requires this of every resident every night – it’s good about making sure its residents are staying clean. I dropped my bag off in my room next to my cot and met my roommates. I was the fifth woman checking into the emergency shelter, so the first four already had the beds. At dinner that first night, I felt like the new kid in school. I didn’t know where to sit because everyone had his or her own friends and cliques, so I kept to myself. During the house meeting that night, everyone was required to sign up for a chore for the next day, whether that was scrubbing a bathroom, straightening up a dorm or cleaning up after a meal. I spent the rest of the night in my room, watching as a few of my roommates ran in and out of the room to talk to their boyfriends and husbands. Residents aren’t allowed in the room of the other gender, even if they are married. The next morning, I was up before sunrise. One of my roommates was already off to work while the others were up doing their morning chores, cleaning the room. By 8 a.m., we were expected to be out of the room, which was locked until 5 p.m. After finishing my morning chore of breakfast cleanup, I rode the AppalCart to go pick up some things from my apartment. Getting books from my
apartment didn’t really coincide with pretending to be homeless, but I had to do homework, and there isn’t much to do at the shelter during the day. Taking that trip made me realize how difficult it is to coordinate bus routes. It took me over an hour to get from Hospitality House to my apartment. By the time I got back to the shelter for lunch, I was just ready for the weekend to be over. Then I met two amazing men, Ed and Terry. They sat next to me and talked to me for over an hour, telling me about their lives and why they had ended up in the shelter. Until this point, I was still dealing with the stigma of homeless people being lazy, not caring to get themselves out of poverty, because that’s all I’d seen the night before and that morning – when most people left the shelter to walk down King Street rather than going to work. These two men, however, were very hard working. They’d just stumbled upon some bad luck in their lives. One of them started crying as he told me how hard his life had been and how much he wanted to be able to live on his own. After their stories, they both offered to help me get a job. Terry went so far as to tell me he’d take me to Social Services on Monday to help me get food stamps. Throughout that afternoon and evening, I continued talking with Ed and Terry, along with Vince – a man who had used up his 30 days in the shelter and was then living on the street – and Ed’s wife, Jade. All of these people completely changed my mind about the stereotype of homeless people. They just needed a break. I could tell they were all hurting, but they were always laughing. Jade told me Friday night that you have to laugh and cut up in the shelter so you don’t start thinking about things and getting depressed. My original plan was to stay at the shelter until Sunday morning, but I ended up leaving Saturday instead. I couldn’t bear lying to those people who had been so nice to me. I had to stick to my story, but I didn’t think it was fair that I was making up horrible things that happened to me when they had to deal with real problems every day. Overall, this experience completely changed my perspective on homelessness. There is some truth to the stereotype of homelessness, but all most people want is a chance.
My
Story Editor’s Note: This is the story The Appalachian’s reporter, Crosmer, told when she checked in to the Hospitality House. My parents kicked me out when I got pregnant at 18, but I ended up having a miscarriage. I came to ASU for college on a partial scholarship and paid for the rest of it by working in Food Services. After my sophomore year, I could no longer afford tuition and since I was no longer a student, couldn’t keep my job on campus. When it came time to renew my lease, I couldn’t afford it and moved in with my boyfriend. Then he started seeing another girl, decided he’d rather be with her and kicked me out. I lived on my friend’s couch for three weeks but her landlord caught me sleeping there too many times and threatened to evict her. She couldn’t do anything but ask me not to stay there anymore. The night before I came to Hospitality House for help, I slept in the gazebo in Durham Park.